Jesus Goes to His Hometown

6 Jesus left there and went back to his hometown. His followers went with him. ² On the Sabbath day he taught in the synagogue. Many people heard him and were amazed. They said, “Where did this man get these teachings? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? And where did he get the power to work miracles? ³ He is only the carpenter. His mother is Mary. He is the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters are here with us.” The people did not accept Jesus.

⁴ Jesus said to them, “Other people give honor to a prophet. But in his own town with his own people and in his own home, a prophet does not receive honor.” ⁵ Jesus was not able to work many miracles there. The only miracles he did were to heal some sick people by putting his hands on them. ⁶ Jesus was amazed that they had no faith.

Then Jesus went to other villages in that area and taught. ⁷ He called the 12 followers together and sent them out in groups of 2. He gave them authority over evil spirits. ⁸ This is what Jesus told them: “Take nothing for your trip except a walking stick. Take no bread, no bag, and no money in your pockets. ⁹ Wear sandals, and take only the clothes you are wearing. ¹⁰ When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. ¹¹ If any town refuses to accept you or its people refuse to listen to you, then leave that town. Shake its dust off your feet.^[a] This will be a warning to them.”^[b]

¹² The followers went out and preached to the people to change their hearts and lives. ¹³ The followers forced many demons out and poured olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

How John the Baptist Was Killed

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because Jesus was now well known. Some people said,^[c] “He is John the Baptist. He is risen from death. That is the reason he can work these miracles.”

¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.”^[d]

Other people said, “Jesus is a prophet. He is like the prophets who lived long ago.”

¹⁶ Herod heard all these things about Jesus. He said, “I killed John by cutting off his head. Now he has been raised from death!”

¹⁷ Herod himself had ordered his soldiers to arrest John, and John was put in prison. Herod did this to please his wife, Herodias. Herodias was the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. But then Herod married her. ¹⁸ John told Herod that it was not lawful for him to be married to his brother’s wife. ¹⁹ So Herodias hated John and wanted to kill him. But she could not because of Herod. ²⁰ Herod was afraid to kill John because he knew John was a good and holy man. So Herod protected John. Also, Herod enjoyed listening to John preach. But John’s preaching always bothered him.

²¹ Then the perfect time came for Herodias to cause John’s death. It happened on Herod’s birthday. Herod gave a dinner party for the most important government leaders, the commanders of his army, and the most important people in Galilee. ²² The daughter of Herodias^[e] came to the party and danced. When she danced, Herod and the people eating with him were very pleased.

So King Herod said to the girl, “I will give you anything you want.” ²³ He promised her, “Anything you ask for I will give to you. I will even give you half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ The girl went to her mother and asked, “What should I ask the king to give me?”

Her mother answered, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵ Quickly the girl went back to the king. She said to him, “Please give me the head of John the Baptist. Bring it to me now on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was very sad. But he had promised to give the girl anything she wanted. And the people eating there with him had heard his promise. So Herod could not refuse what she asked. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent a soldier to bring John’s head. The soldier went and cut off John’s head in the prison ²⁸ and brought it back on a platter. He gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ John’s followers heard about what happened. So they came and got John’s body and put it in a tomb.

More Than 5,000 People Fed

³⁰ The apostles that Jesus had sent out to preach returned. They gathered around him and told him about all the things they had done and taught. ³¹ Crowds of people were coming and going. Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest.”

³² So they went in a boat alone to a place where there were no people. ³³ But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So people from all the towns ran to the place where Jesus was going. They got there before Jesus arrived. ³⁴ When he landed, he saw a great crowd waiting. Jesus felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things.

³⁵ It was now late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already very late. ³⁶ Send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.”

³⁷ But Jesus answered, “You give them food to eat.”

They said to him, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people! We would all have to work a month to earn enough money to buy that much bread!”

³⁸ Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.”

When they found out, they came to him and said, “We have five loaves and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus said to the followers, “Tell all the people to sit in groups on the green grass.” ⁴⁰ So all the people sat in groups. They sat in groups of 50 or groups of 100. ⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for the bread. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² All the people ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ The followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were not eaten. ⁴⁴ There were about 5,000 men there who ate.

Jesus Walks on the Water

⁴⁵ Then Jesus told his followers to get into the boat and go to Bethsaida on the other side of the lake. Jesus said that he would come later. He stayed there to tell the people they could go home. ⁴⁶ After sending them away, he went into the hills to pray.

⁴⁷ That night, the boat was in the middle of the lake. Jesus was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ He saw the followers working hard to row the boat because the wind was blowing against them. At some time between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. He continued walking until he was almost past the boat. ⁴⁹ But when his followers saw him walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost and cried out. ⁵⁰ They all saw him and were terrified. But Jesus spoke to them and said, “Have courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then he got into the boat with them. And the wind became calm. The followers were greatly amazed. ⁵² They had seen Jesus make more bread from the five loaves. But they did not understand what it meant. Their minds were closed.

⁵³ When they had crossed the lake, they came to shore at Gennesaret. They tied the boat there. ⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, the people saw Jesus and immediately recognized him. ⁵⁵ They ran to tell others everywhere in that area that Jesus was there. They brought sick people on mats to every place Jesus went. ⁵⁶ Jesus went into towns and cities and farms around that area. And everywhere he went, the people brought the sick to the marketplaces. They begged him to let them just touch the edge of his coat. And all who touched him were healed.

Obey God’s Law Not Men’s

7 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem. They gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean. (“Not clean” means that they did not wash their hands in the way the Pharisees said people must. ³ The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the teaching given to them by their great people who lived before them. ⁴ And when the Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules of their great people who lived before them. They follow rules about the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[f])

⁵ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the rules given to us by our great people who lived before us. Your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you. Isaiah wrote,

⁸ You have stopped following the commands of God. Now you only follow the teachings of men.”^[g]

⁹ Then Jesus said to them: “You think you are clever! You ignore the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’^[h] Then Moses also said, ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[i] 11} But you teach that a person can say to his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ ¹² You are telling that person that he does not have to do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow your own rules, which you teach people. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing a person puts into his body that makes him unclean. A person is made unclean by the things that come out of him. ¹⁶ [Let those with ears use them and listen!]”^[j]

¹⁷ When Jesus left the people and went inside, his followers asked him about this story. ¹⁸ Jesus said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean. ¹⁹ Food does not go into a person’s mind. Food goes into his stomach. Then that food goes out of his body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that there is no food that is unclean for people to eat.)

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that come out of a man are the things that make him unclean. ²¹ All these evil things begin inside a person, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, ²² selfishness, doing bad things to other people, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, saying bad things about people, pride, and foolish living. ²³ All these evil things come from within a person. These things make a person unclean.”

Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre.^[k] He went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. But Jesus could not stay hidden. ²⁵ A woman heard that he was there. Her little daughter had an evil spirit in her. So the woman quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. ²⁶ She was not Jewish. She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ Jesus told the woman: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”

²⁸ She answered, “That is true, Lord. But the dogs under the table can eat the pieces of food that the children don’t eat.”

²⁹ Then Jesus said, “That is a very good answer. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed. The demon was gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

³¹ Then Jesus left the area around Tyre. He went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns.^{[l] 32} While he was there, some people brought a man to him. This man was deaf and could not talk. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.

³³ Jesus led the man away from the crowd, to be alone with him. Jesus put his fingers in the man’s ears. Then Jesus spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ Jesus looked up to heaven and took a deep breath. He said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) ³⁵ When Jesus did this, the man was able to hear. He was also able to use his tongue, and he spoke clearly.

³⁶ Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. ³⁷ They were really amazed. They said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk—Jesus makes them able to speak.”